ByJonathan Shead |November 17, 2016

The Ingham County Commission remains largely Democratic after Tuesday’s election with 11 of 14 districts. Democrat Mark Grebner rejoined the commission in District 8 and Ryan Sebolt joined the commission in District 2.

East Lansing Police Lt. Scott Wriggelsworth leads Eric Trojanowicz in the race to be Ingham County sheriff. With 96.61 percent of precincts reporting, Wriggelsworth led 57.7 percent to 42.06 percent. Wriggelsworth is the son of Gene Wriggelsworth, who is retiring this year after serving as sheriff for 28 years. The younger Wriggelsworth was promoted to lieutenant in the East Lansing Police Department in 2012 and currently serves in administration. “I’m excited about being an ambassador in our community— trying to rebuild that trust of local law enforcement— and learning, professionally and personally, the men and women that work there, and imploring them that they should think big,” Scott Wriggelsworth said. “In 2016, we have to police our community differently than we did 23 years ago when I started.

ByJohnathan Shead and |November 8, 2016

Ingham County voters leaned heavily toward renewing a property tax to support Potter Park Zoo. With 81 percent of precincts reporting, 77 percent of voters elected to renew a 0.41 mill tax to support the Lansing zoo. For the owner of a $200,000 home, this tax costs $41 a year. Because it is a renewal, residents’ taxes did not go up. Potter Park and the Potter Park Zoo have been a staple of the Lansing community for more than 100 years, since 1915. The park and zoo were under control of the city of Lansing until 2006, when the cost of maintaining the zoo became too big a burden for the city.

Democratic incumbent state Rep. Tom Cochran, D-Mason, faces challenger Republican Leon Clark to represent the 67th District in the state House. With 60 percent of precincts reporting, Cochran leads Clark 56 percent to 44 percent. The 67th District spans much of southern Ingham County. Looking to win his third and final term in office, Cochran previously served on the Lansing Fire Department for over 29 years. Born and raised in Lansing, Cochran has been a mid-Michigan resident his entire life.

The majority of precincts in Meridian saw high voter turnout during the first hour that polls were open. In Precinct 1, there was a 40-45 minute wait during the first hour, and in Precinct 5 nearly 10 percent of registered voters turned out then. “During that period, we had about a minute per voter,” said Precinct 1 chairwoman Beverly Stephens. “Right now, we have 697 ballots.”

“In the first 50 minutes, 160 people came in,” said Precinct 5 chairman Jim Brazier. “We are approaching about 700 votes.”

One challenge during early hours voting was the ballot tabulator jamming and saying the ballot was defective.

Meridian’s second voting precinct at Haslett High School tried to get ahead of the game by taking two hours Monday night to set up and prepare for the big day. Despite the effort, an early crash in the voting booth computers brought a rough start to Election Day. A glitch in the booth computers halted the operation just minutes after the doors opened, which made an already long line get even worse. “Oh yeah, it caused a jam,” said precinct co-chair Ginger Petty. “The line snaked all around inside the gym and even started outside the door at one point.

In Case You Missed It

Summertime poses as the perfect opportunity for students to make and earn money for the up-and-coming school year but with more and more summer internships failing to offer compensation for their time students can struggle to make ends meet. “When I first got my internship I was so excited,” said Michigan State University pre-med student Ali Beydoun, “then found out it was unpaid and I got a little worried.